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“Oh ho! That's an interesting argument. I agree that it can be sad when another entity leaves this plane of existence. But I am comforted by the very nature of the universe! We are all mere manifestations of a much larger consciousness, of course.”
—Azama's A-Support with the Avatar

Azama is a playable character in Fire Emblem Fates on the Birthright and Revelation routes. One of Hinoka's personal retainers, Azama is an aloof, acerbic, and philosophical monk with nihilistic views on the world.

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One of Hinoka's retainers, Azama is a priest with a barbed tongue that belies his seemingly well-mannered personality.

Azama is known to be the second son of a priest based in an unnamed shrine. Prior to the events of Fates, as a result of his ill behaviour, he was forced to ascend a number of mountain ranges, during which he found penance and developed a calm, serene demeanour that is considered befitting of a priest. While meditating on one of these mountains one day, Azama encountered Hinoka, who had been injured due to unknown causes. This prompted him to heal her wounds to the best of his abilities before taking her to safety. Departing immediately after rejecting Hinoka's offer to reward him, Azama left the impression that he was a wise, selfless priest, a fact that later saw Hinoka deciding to hire him as one her direct subordinates.

Azama also possesses a powerful charm that he obtained from a holy deity during one of his meditations, although he is not able to use it for "entirely selfish" purposes.

If he achieves an S-Support, he will conceive a daughter named Mitama with his spouse. In his supports with her, Azama reveals his eyes share the same star pattern as hers.

Azama first appears in Chapter 8, where he, along with Setsuna, accompanies Hinoka on a mission to join up with Ryoma and Takumi's forces. While attempting to pass through the region that the Wind Tribe Village is situated in, the group runs headlong into the conflict that arises between the Wind Tribe and the Avatar's forces. The group is introduced at this juncture in a rather comical fashion, with Setsuna absentmindedly getting ensnared by quicksand and Hinoka attempting to help her while exasperatedly chastising Azama for his lighthearted, sardonic regard of the situation.

Azama first appears in Chapter 11, where he, along with Setsuna, accompanies Hinoka to defend the Rainbow Sage from the Avatar's army. The defence staged by the Hoshidans fails, and Azama, alongside his comrades, retreats thereafter.

Azama appears yet again in Chapter 24, where he and Setsuna aid Hinoka in the defence of Castle Shirasagi. Although he initially makes light of the situation, Azama adopts a sombre demeanour as he resolves to protect Hinoka from coming under harm. Despite their valiant efforts, the Hoshidans are defeated by the Avatar's army. Hinoka unhesitatingly steps before the Avatar and demands that they take her life but spare those of her soldiers. The Avatar responds by pretending to slay Hinoka with the Yato, and thereafter urges her to flee with her retainers.

Azama appears in Paralogue 12, where he, aware that his daughter Mitama's village is under attack, expresses his fear and anxiety to Saizo. Initially inappropriately philosophising that death will eventually occur to everyone, Azama is snapped back to reality by Saizo, who urges him to lead his daughter's rescue. A battle thereafter ensues when Azama and Saizo enter the village and notice that it is overrun by a horde of invisible enemies. During the course of the battle, a series of three comical exchanges will be shared between Azama and his daughter each time he visits her "perfectly sound house". These exchanges see Azama trying to convince Mitama to flee her dwellings unsuccessfully due to her desire to sleep before finally succeeding on his third attempt. Following the conclusion of the battle, Azama stops Mitama from returning home, insisting that she continues to aid the army with her healing abilities.

Despite holding the position of a priest who is expected to represent the values of benevolence and compassion, Azama defies such expectations, as he adopts a demeanour of breezy apathy in his regard of others, heavily employing sardonic wit and dark humour in his speech. Indiscriminate in the disagreeable manner by which he treats people, Azama is known to delight in making biting remarks that induce pronounced discomfort, and even his liege and social superior Hinoka is not spared; through his supports with her, he reveals, albeit rather disturbingly, that her positively charming look of fury and frustration during their first meeting as she fought to preserve her life was what compelled him to rescue her.

Azama's sardonicism is deeply steepled in the realm of nihilism, where he airily considers life to be devoid of any meaning or purpose. Apart from him cheerfully remarking that "death comes for everyone" when he defeats an enemy unit, Azama's nihilistic inclinations are also best illustrated through his supports with various characters. His supports with the Avatar is one such example, as he, after dismissively stating that death can be a sad affair, casually reveals his belief that he, alongside every other life form, is merely a manifestation of a larger conscience.

Taking up the art of meditating as a hobby, Azama enjoys retreating from the company of others and engaging in the act during his free time. Using meditation as a means of escapism to avoid the chaos of warfare, Azama is known to become irritable when he is interrupted in the practice, a fact that surfaces through his supports with the Avatar.

Azama is the only one out of the whole army that never cries. His birthday is September 8.

Azama is a unit that does not start with the usual Magic and Luck that most healers possess. While his Magic growth is not on par with other healers, this fact does little to hamper his usefulness, considering that HP recovered with Rods does not scale much higher with Magic. Given Azama's stat profile, he is best utilized as a frontline tank while providing support to the other frontline tanks/bruisers. While he cannot effectively deal with magic users due to his low Resistance, his personal skill acts as a free counter as long as he has no weapon equipped. In addition to these strengths, his solid Speed and Defense growths allows him to prevent foes from performing double attacks, alongside enduring stronger attacks. His high Strength growth can prepare him for his Great Master promotion.

Azama gains natural access to two promotions: the Great Master and Onmyoji classes. The Great Master befits him better, primarily due to the fact that it allows Azama to wield a physical weapon to exploit his high Strength. As a Great Master, he can learn Renewal, a skill that complements his role as a frontline tank by consistently replenishing any HP that he loses. He can also learn Countermagic, a skill that offsets his low Resistance by permitting him to deflect any damage inflicted upon him by magic users.

As an Onmyoji, Azama can focus on becoming a more magic-oriented unit. While his Magic growth is increased, it is not raised by a huge margin in this class, resulting in him not being able to inflict much damage as compared to other magic users.

Azama's secondary class set is the Apothecary, entailing the Merchant and Mechanist promotions. Reclassing him into an Apothecary allows him to use his physical power to its fullest potential early at the cost of not being able to use staves. While Azama becomes more durable as an Apothecary, his Speed will be lowered, and he will thus be unable to perform double attacks prolifically. In this class, the skills that he stands to gain are utility-based, involving the use of consumables like Vulneraries and Tonics. Quick Salve, for one, allows Azama to perform another turn of action after consuming an HP recovery or stat-boosting item.

Promoting him to a Merchant can be decent, since it only takes a slight amount of his Speed growth away while boosting his Luck growth to help with his main skill in this class; his stat growths are balanced all around, with the exception of his lacklustre Resistance. As mentioned before, his newly found Luck growth boost can help with his main skill in this class, Profiteer; it will trigger fairly frequently, but his Luck all around is not high enough to make it reliable. That in turn will help his second learnt skill, Spendthrift; this ideally can help with high Defense enemies if attacking, or high Magic enemies if defending. However, as mentioned before, it requires faith in the triggering of Profiteer; otherwise, it will be useless.

As a Mechanist, on the other hand, his physical Defensive capabilities and Strength are limited, due to the reduction in their growths; however, he benefits from a surge of Resistance and Skill growth, allowing him to be able to stand his ground against Mages. The best playstyle if you intend to keep him in this class is to attack from behind cover, since physical units will likely make short work of him otherwise. For skills, Azama first learns Golembane, a mediocre skill with very little potential, and should only be used in My Castle battles due to the decline of Mechanists, Stoneborns and Puppets later on in the game; however, afterwards, he learns Replicate, an extremely versatile skill even if you bring it back to other classes. Using it as a Mechanist, Azama is able to double his damage output, albeit with the threat of a tied fate looming over him while using it; if you intend to bring it back to his Monk class line, it can also double his healing abilities, allowing him to farm weapon experience and help him level up quicker, as well as healing more units.

Kaden/Hayato: Both Kaden and Hayato provide Azama access to the Diviner class set, comprising of classes that utilise magic for offence and trade Luck and Resistance for a slightly stronger Magic growth; he gains access to the Onmyoji and Basara promotions. While it is already known that Azama is built to utilise his Strength in combat rather than magic, players can class change him into a Diviner if they plan on putting his Magic to greater use. Magic +2 aids this idea early on, by giving him a small boost to his Magic stat, but can ideally be traded in for a better skill later on; Future Sight, on the other hand, can be useful in his early and later levels to help him level up, but can be abandoned once you reach a comfortable level with him. Azama only gets one new class from this class line: Basara. This is essentially a hybrid between his standard two promotions from his base class line, Great Master and Onmyoji, allowing the use of both Lances/Naginatas and Tomes/Scrolls. The first skill he learns in this class is Rend Heaven, a frequently triggering skill considering his average Skill growth; however, it requires him to target the right enemies with the right weapon; otherwise, it will deal very little bonus damage. The second skill, Quixotic, stresses a risk-for-reward playstyle, increasing both his and his enemy's Hit Rate and skill activation chance. Due to his mediocre Defense and Resistance growths, this is not recommended, unless you are facing an opponent who deals either very little damage or has no aggressive skills equipped.

Arthur: Arthur provides Azama the class Fighter class, where his offensive capabilities will shine with access to axes. The first two skills he learns are HP +5 and Gamble. HP + 5 makes him more of a tank which increases his Health, Gamble gives him +10 crit rate at the cost of -10 hit rate. The promotions of the Fighter class are Hero and Berserker. The Hero class gives him access to swords as well as giving him two incredibly useful skills. The first is Sol which heals him with half the amount of damage he has dealt, this can really help him out as he will most likely have to take hits and need to heal up. Axebreaker is a great skill for him in the Birthright route as he can easily avoid other berserkers and helping him in the weapon triangle when he uses a naginata, such as the Guard Naginata. The Berserker class doesn't change too much other than giving him access to S rank on axes and a built in crit rate. It provides Rally Strength and Axefaire, rally strength is a helpful supportive skill in case a allied unit needs some extra power to take out an enemy unit. Axefaire is not so needed and is only optional if you want to him stay on a axe wielding class

Avatar: The Female Avatar can give him any class depending on what the player starts out with, so it's best to give him classes (especially Nohrian ones) that he cannot obtain otherwise. Mercenary provides him Good Fortune and Strong Riposte, both of these skills are helpful when he has to counter attack. Bow Knight and Hero are the promotions but Hero is already explained with Arthur. Bow Knight gives him mobility and two beneficial skills. Rally Skill is another rally skill which helps units with hit rate and having a better chance to crit and activating skills and Shurikenbreaker, helping him hit and avoid Master Ninjas that are very well known to avoid attacks a lot. Cavalier gives Azama Elbow Room and Shelter, Elbow Room gives him +3 damage when he fights with no terrain effects and Shelter to protect weakened allies. The promotion to the Paladin and Great Knight gives very useful skills. Paladin's Aegis lets him shave magic damage off and Great Knight's Armored Blow lets him take less physical damage when engaging a fight. Dark Mage gives him Heartseeker, giving the enemy units -20 avoid when near him. Sorcerer provides Vengeance which lets him deal more damage whenever he has taken damage and Bowbreaker, helping him avoid Snipers and Kinshi Knights.

Felicia: Felicia provides him the Troubadour class, giving him resistances and using his magic in a fairly high peak. The first two class are Resistance +2 and Gentilhomme, Resistance + 2 gives Azama a boost on resistance which is helpful for him but will get replaced for better skills. Gentilhomme gives nearby female allied units - 2 damage taken when they are at 2 spaces near him. The promotions, Butler and Strategist gives him utility skills as well as giving him some resist and luck growths. Butler gives him Live to Serve which heals him whenever he heals someone else by the same amount and Tomebreaker, allowing him to avoid all mages, this really helps him due to his mediocre resistance. Strategist offers Rally Resistance, another rally skill to help units take less magic damage and Inspiration, a much better skill than Gentilhomme as it also gives nearby units +2 damage and is not restricted to female units.

Hinoka/Sakura/Azura: Hinoka, Sakura and Azura give Azama the access to the Sky Knight class as well as it's two promotions Falcon Knight/Kinshi Knight. The Sky Knight gives him Darting Blow and Camaraderie, Darting Blow gives him a +5 speed whenever he engages a battle, helping him make double attacks as Camaraderie gives him only 10% HP whenever an ally is within two spaces which is easily replaced by Renewel. The Falcon Knight gives Azama both Rally Speed and Warding Blow, Rally Speed is another of his rally skills which helps his allies double easily and Warding Blow really helps him fighting mages while taking no damage but it only works if he engages the fight. The Kinshi Knight gives him both Air Superiority, giving him +30 on hit rate/avoid rate against flying units. Amaterasu is very helpful to heal allies within 2 spaces away while he is on the front line.

Setsuna/Mozu: Both Units give Azama the Archer giving him access to exclusively bows. The first two skills are Skill +2 and Quick Draw, Skill + 2 gives him a little boost to his skill stat but will get replaced later on and Quick Draw gives him a free +4 damage when engaging a battle. The Promotions are Sniper and Kinshi Knight, Kinshi Knight is already explained so it only leaves to the Sniper class. The Sniper Class gives him both Certain Blow and Bowfaire. Certain Blow is useful if the enemy unit is a very evasive one such as the Swordsmaster, Master Ninja and Nine-Tails. Bowfaire is useful only if he is kept as a bow wielding class.

Effie: Effie gives Azama the Knight class, which shines even better than Apothecary and especially if he's been a Great Master before, as it lets him keep and carry on his Lance/Naginata level. The Knight class gives him Defense +2 and Natural Cover, both makes him take less damage. General gives very useful skills and a big boost to strength, hp, and defense growths. Wary Fighter prevents him from doubling but also prevents the enemy units to double on him, Pavise lets him shave off physical damage. With access to every other skills, he can be a complete wall and can heal himself thanks to Renewal and Live to Serve.

Azama decided to use his talents to help and inspire and heal the people of Hoshido — rather than taunt them. Beruka was torn about leaving Camilla but enjoyed having enough emotions for them to conflict.

Azama decided to use his talents to inspire and heal the people of Hoshido—rather than taunt them. Effie retired after getting married, but she and Elise remained best friends for the rest of their lives.

Azama decided to use his talents to inspire and heal the people of Hoshido—rather than taunt them. His wife, Hana, continued to serve Sakura, brightening all of their lives with her infectious optimism.

Azama decided to use his talents to inspire and heal the people of Hoshido—rather than taunt them. Rinkah's fiery personality ensured her husband's life was not boring, and they loved one another well.

Azama decided to use his talents to inspire and heal the people of Hoshido—rather than taunt them. His wife, Sakura, dedicated herself to helping the underprivileged, and the two worked happily together.

The origin of the Japanese name Asama is uncertain, but it seems to be linked to mountains and volcanoes. As a matter of fact in Japan there are over one thousand Shinto shrines nearby Mount Fuji called "Asama shrines", where it is possible to worship the divinity of the mountain.

Azama was voted as the 20th most popular male character in Nintendo's official Fates character poll.

Azama is the only retainer to not have a weapon or staff named after him in the English version of the game.

Although he has his eyes are always closed in Fates, he states that he has star-shaped pupils like his daughter Mitama.

Since Azama's eyes are never shown open, however, he was not programmed to have star-shaped pupils on his in-game model. Rather, the unseen 3D model for his eyes uses the generic placeholder texture (with small gray irises, the same texture used for generic units' eyes).

(†) indicates a Hero that is obtained via Grand Hero Battles (‡) indicates a Hero that is obtained via Tempest Trials (*) indicates a Hero that is currently only available as a Special Hero (¥) indicates a Hero that is only available in Legendary Hero Summoning Focuses